Hi, there!
How expensive is it to live in Israel?
I've read up about costs of living in Israel but the facts are a bit cold to me. I want to know from someone who lives in Israel.
How comfortable can a single person, without a car, live who teaches and has a salary of say 3000 shekels? (not sure what a teacher earns in Israel. If you know, please share :)
Thanks!
Hi Jesse,
3000 shekels are barely covering the rent in most of the cities in Israel.
The minimum wage in Israel is about 5000 shekels and people are still struggling to live with that amount of money.
However most of the rest can be cheap, depending on your standard of living:
Vegetables, fruits, chicken bread, eggs, fresh diary products: I think their prices are fair.
If you hold a car - it can be very expensive, but the public transportation not.
The bottom line- it depends:
If you are a tourist in a hotel in Tel Aviv, eating in restaurants, and want to travel and to do shopping - it could be very expensive.
If you are a student, living in the dormitories, going by bus, cooking to yourself or eating a falafel - that's ok and you will enjoy you staying here.
If you have a family, rent a house and the taxes, send your son to a private garden, hold 2 private cars for the two parents, go once in a year for a vacation abroad (upper middle class standard of living) - 3000 NIS are not enough (maybe for half a week but not for the whole month).
Trust me on this one, you don't want to live with a salary of 3000 Shekels. up until last August, I rented a 3 room apartment in Ramat HaSharon, a town next to Tel Aviv, the rent was 6000 Shekels. Also not having a car might be an issue, because in most towns there is no public transportation during the Shabath (from Friday evening to Saturday evening).
I have no idea how much a teacher makes for a month.
